Nez Perce language
[4] The phonology of Nez Perce includes vowel harmony (which was mentioned in Noam Chomsky & Morris Halle's The Sound Pattern of English), as well as a complex stress system described by Crook (1999).This system presents a challenge to common concepts of vowel harmony, since it does not appear to be based on obvious considerations of backness, height, or tongue root position.To account for this, Katherine Nelson (2013)[8] proposes that the two sets be considered as distinct "triangles" of vowel space, each by themselves maximally dispersed, where the recessive set is somewhat retracted (further back) in comparison to the dominant: This dual system would simultaneously explain two apparent phonological aberrances: the absence of a mid front vowel /e/, and the fact that phonemic /i/ can be marked either as dominant or recessive./ˈtæhæs/ As in many other indigenous languages of the Americas, a Nez Perce verb can have the meaning of an entire sentence in English.Verbal affixes provide information about the person and number of the subject and object, as well as tense and aspect (e.g. whether or not an action has been completed).ʔew1/2-3.OBJʔilíwfireweeflyʔinipígrabqawstraight.throughtéego.awayceIMPERF.PRES.SGʔew ʔilíw wee ʔinipí qaw tée ce1/2-3.OBJ fire fly grab straight.through go.away IMPERF.PRES.SG'I go to scoop him up in the fire'[10]hi3.SUBJtiw̓elein.rainpááycomeePASThi tiw̓ele pááy e3.SUBJ in.rain come PAST'He arrived in the rain'[11]Asa Bowen Smith developed the Nez Perce grammar by adapting the missionary alphabet used in Hawaiian missions, and adding the consonants s and t.[12] In 1840, Asa Bowen Smith wrote the manuscript for the book Grammar of the Language of the Nez Perces Indians Formerly of Oregon, U.S..[13] The grammar of Nez Perce has been described in a grammar (Aoki 1973) and a dictionary (Aoki 1994) with two dissertations.Verb–subject–object word order kiithispée-ten’we-m-e3→3-talk-CSL-PASTqíiw-neold.man-OBJ’iceyéeye-nmcoyote-ERGkii pée-ten’we-m-e qíiw-ne ’iceyéeye-nmthis 3→3-talk-CSL-PAST old.man-OBJ coyote-ERG‘Now the coyote talked to the old man’Subject–verb–object word order Kaaandháatya-nmwind-ERGpáa-’nahna-m-a3→3-carry-CSL-PAST’iceyéeye-necoyote-OBJKaa háatya-nm páa-’nahna-m-a ’iceyéeye-neand wind-ERG 3→3-carry-CSL-PAST coyote-OBJ‘And the wind carried coyote here’Subject–object–verb word order Kawó’thenkiithisháama-pimhusband-ERG’áayato-nawoman-OBJpée-’nehnen-e3→3-take.away-PASTKawó’ kii háama-pim ’áayato-na pée-’nehnen-ethen this husband-ERG woman-OBJ 3→3-take.away-PAST‘Now then the husband took the woman away’[18]The 2010 film Meek's Cutoff features a Cayuse man (played by Rod Rondeaux) who speaks the Downriver dialect of Nez Perce.
United StatesNez Perce peopleLanguage familyPenutianPlateau PenutianSahaptianISO 639-3GlottologSahaptinNez PercemisnomerPlateau Penutian familyNorthwestern United Statesendangered languagelanguage revitalizationphonologyvowel harmonyNoam ChomskyMorris HalleThe Sound Pattern of EnglishstressBilabialAlveolarPalatalUvularGlottalsibilantlateralPlosiveAffricateejectiveFricativeSonorantglottalizedlengthmid front vowelCentraldiphthongstongue root positionArabicQuechuaCoda sequencesindigenous languages of the AmericaspolysynthesispersonnumbersubjectobjectaspectAsa Bowen Smithgrammargrammatical casetripartite languagesmorphosyntactic alignmentpolarityassociated motionperiodic tenseword orderMeek's CutoffCayuseRod RondeauxEthnologueJacques, GuillaumeStudies in LanguageMithun, MarianneChomsky, NoamHalle, MorrisSilverstein, MichaelZwicky, ArnoldRosetta ProjectPenutian languagesChinookanKathlametLower ChinookUpper ChinookPlateauKlamathMolalaUmatillaTakelmaKalapuyanCentral KalapuyaNorthern KalapuyaYoncallaCoast OregonAlseanCoosanSiuslawWintuanNomlakiPatwinSouthern PatwinMaiduanKonkowNisenanYok-UtianYokutsPalewyami YokutsBuena Vista YokutsTulamniHometwoliTule–Kaweah YokutsWukchumniYawdanchiGashowu YokutsKings River YokutsChoynimniValley YokutsDelta YokutsNorthern Valley YokutsChukchansiSouthern Valley YokutsTachi YokutsYawelmani YokutsCoast MiwokLake MiwokPlains MiwokBay MiwokNorthern Sierra MiwokCentral Sierra MiwokSouthern Sierra MiwokOhloneKarkinTamienRamaytushChochenyo